The Top 10 Greatest Ever Americana Artists: Paul Kerr

As has been mentioned many times before in this feature, there’s a conundrum at the heart of it. First off, what on earth is americana? Well, for this piece, it’s whatever I decide fits the bill. Secondly, is this a list of my favourite artists or a list of the most influential or, heaven forbid, the most popular? I’d certainly fail at that last hurdle as it seems that the more popular an artist gets, the less inclined I am to investigate. That might mark me as a bit of a musical snob and that’s fair enough. It’s a label which has tagged me for many years but, in my defence, I’d like to say that it’s led me into various alleyways and rabbit holes which have been hugely rewarding. Having said that, there’s nothing here which might be considered “obscure.” My list might eschew some obvious contenders – rest assured, I love Dylan, John Prine, Steve Earle, Lucinda Williams, The Band and many others– but I’ve tried to cast some light on some of my favourite artists who I consider to have had a meaningful impact on the wider scene. I’ve had to number them for the sake of this article but, to paraphrase Gold Hat in ‘The Treasure Of the Sierra Madre’, “We don’t need no stinkin’ numbers”. So be it.

Number 10: Howe Gelb

A true renaissance man, Howe Gelb is the lynchpin of Giant Sand along with a dizzying array of other projects and collaborations. Blowing in from Tucson in the early 1980s with the hi-octane desert rock of ‘Valley Of Rain’ and ‘Ballad Of A Thin Line Man’, Gelb also fronted the more country rock-orientated Band Of Blacky Ranchette who released the classic album ‘Sage Advice’. His rhythm section eventually broke away to become Calexico while Gelb meandered quite wonderfully, releasing solo albums and further collaborations including the wonderful OP8 with Lisa Germano. His role in revitalising alternative American roots music was recognised when he hosted the Beyond Nashville event at London’s Barbican back in 2001, a star-studded night.  A true Maverick, one never knows what to expect from a new venture from Gelb but he remains ever questing and always of interest.

Number 9: The Long Ryders

Say what you will of Uncle Tupelo but The Long Ryders were way ahead of Tweedy and Farrar in giving American roots music a kick up the arse. As frontman Sid Griffin said of them, they were like “The Byrds, but pissed off”. They took that Byrds sound and added Bakersfield country licks and a punk attitude which all merged into a fantastic live experience if you were lucky enough to see them back then. That they can still deliver a stone-cold solid live experience these days on their occasional outings is a tribute to their ongoing kick-ass spirit. Going back to their early days, their take on Dylan’s ‘Masters Of War’ (on their collection of early demos and outtakes, ‘Metallic BO’) is quite astounding as they zoom in on the death drone nihilism of The Velvet Underground while their most recent album, ‘September November’, shows that they are as vibrant as ever. We must also note Griffin’s role as a journalist and author in flying the flag for americana music.

Number 8: Tom Waits

Starting off as a low-life bar room crooner (with wit, see ‘The Piano Has Been Drinking’), Tom Waits has always inhabited the darker and more lurid elements of American music. Channelling Bukowski, he laid down a template of neon lit boho dreams on a series of albums before the epiphany which was 1983’s ‘Swordfishtrombones’. Here, Waits exploded into a much more kaleidoscopic world peopled by freak show characters and delivered via a cacophony of sounds – outsider music from Harry Partch, carnival music, exotica and junkyard blues – which was then bettered on the following album ‘Raindogs’.  I’d wager that these two albums were the starting point for a good number of musicians who wanted to paint America in their songs but who didn’t know one country song from another. Subsequent discs found Waits digging deeper into American idioms with ‘Mule Variations’, released in 1999, setting the stage for a 21^st Century version of the blues while a more European venture, ‘The Black Rider’, is paradoxically suffused with back wood tales and  sounds  which epitomise what Greil Marcus called the old weird America. For those who might challenge Waits as an americana artist I’d refer you to the numerous instances that anyone with a hint of a gravelly voice is described as Waitsian in numerous reviews. Evidence that his spirit hovers over much of what is released today.

Number 7: The Felice Brothers.

The Band, at their best, are simply, just the best. However, for the purposes of this list I’ll propose The Felice Brothers as their worthy successors. They actually sounded like The Band for a short while, especially on their first self-titled major release in 2008 which featured perennial favourites such as ‘Frankie’s Gun’ and ‘Whiskey In My Whiskey’. They wheezed and huffed quite excellently in a ramshackle way and, to their credit, they’ve never tried a more polished approach. ‘Life In The Dark’ and ‘Undress’ are stuffed full of joyous songs and their most recent release ‘From Dreams To Dust’ is a classic with Ian Felice almost outdoing Dylan in his wordplay as the band soar quite magnificently while still sounding like a school band rehearsal where someone (usually the drummer) has smuggled in some jazz cigarettes.

Number 6: Sparklehorse

Back in 1985, a tremulous voice reciting Richard III’s supposed declaration, “A Horse, a horse, my kingdom for a horse”, introduced me into the weird and spectral world of Mark Linkous, AKA Sparklehorse. They were the opening lines of ‘Vivadixiesubmarinetransmissionplot’, an album which seemed to come from another dimension. Linkous variously whispered and ranted as the album wandered through found sounds, studio effects, caustic punk, psychedelia and folk rock. It’s indescribably beautiful, an album which leaves an indelible print on anyone who listens to it. Follow-ups, including ‘Good Morning Spider’ and ‘It’s A Wonderful Life’ were less varied but just as essential. ‘Painbirds’ is a song which should be mandatory listening for anyone with a brain and an ear or two. Linkous’ story is a short and tragic one but he left behind him a treasury of precious songs and the recent release of ‘Bird Machine’, assembled posthumously is a welcome reminder of his genius.

Number 5: Emmylou Harris

The doyenne of americana, Emmylou Harris was there at the beginning as Gram Parson’s soul mate on his two acclaimed solo albums. After his untimely death, Harris took on his legacy, beginning with ‘Pieces Of The Sky’, backed by The Hot Band who were Parsons’ backing band on his albums, and followed it up with more excellence on ‘Elite Hotel’ and ‘Luxury Liner’. While keeping the Parsons flag flying she was also the first artist to cover Townes Van Zandt’s ‘Pancho & Lefty’ and it’s fair to say that she gave Rodney Crowell his first exposure. While she then began to cleave to a more traditional country sound and then moved into a bluegrass style she remained a prime mover and her ‘Trio’ albums (recorded with Dolly Parton and Linda Ronstadt) did much to champion the role of women in Nashville. Her 17^th album, ‘Wrecking Ball’, released in 1995, was a revelation as Harris reinvented herself with the assistance of producer Daniel Lanois. The follow up, ‘Red Dirt Girl’ was even more of an achievement with Harris, known primarily as an interpreter of other folks songs, writing the majority of the album. It’s her pinnacle.

Number 4: Townes Van Zandt

What’s left to say really about the legend which is Townes Van Zandt. He’s the embodiment of the Texan singer songwriter tradition although much less rough and rowdy than those who followed in his wake. A true poet whose songs can strike a chord in even the flintiest heart, he sang of the frontier, of forsaken souls and delved deep into the darkness which surrounds us. First recording in 1968, his album ‘For The Sake Of the Song’ contained the astounding ‘Waiting Around To Die’, a song which still astonishes to this day. Consider that in 1968 Dylan was being feted for going back to roots music on ‘John Wesley Harding’ and compare ‘Waiting Around To Die’ to any of Dylan’s contemporary songs and see who hits hardest. Another tragic artist, Van Zandt wrote and recorded many of his best known songs early in his career before becoming better known in the mid ‘70s due to the likes of Willie Nelson and Emmylou Harris covering his songs. Bedevilled by his addictions, Van Zandt recorded little after his 1978 album ‘Flying Shoes’ but he toured around the world growing his legend until his death in 1997. He left behind him an unimpeachable library of songs.

Number 3: Ry Cooder

If we accept that modern-day americana music grew from various roots then Ry Cooder is perhaps the man who propagated and nourished them. Over his lengthy career he has left no stone unturned in his exhumation of roots music be it folk, blues, country blues, hillbilly music, Tex-Mex, Chicano, classic R’n’B, Cuban, Hawaiian and world music along with good old fashioned rock’n’roll. He has also had a celebrated career as a provider of evocative movie soundtracks. Cooder’s early albums were instrumental in bringing the likes of Woody Guthrie, Blind Willie Johnson, Leadbelly and Blind Willie McTell to light and were recorded with the cream of the crop of LA musicians. He wasn’t afraid to release albums which might have a limited audience such as 1978’s ‘Jazz‘ which highlighted Joseph Spencer and Bix Beiderbecke and he had to evade US travel restrictions to record the hugely successful ‘Buena Vista Social Club’ album in Cuba. After a lengthy pause in recording solo, Cooder released a trilogy of albums (‘Chavez Ravine’, ‘My Name Is Buddy’ and ‘I Flathead’) which were pointedly political and he continues to record, picking up a seventh Grammy for his latest album, ‘Get On Board’, recorded with his long time ally Taj Mahal. All that and we haven’t mentioned his stellar participation on one of the best albums of all time, John Hiatt’s ‘Bring The Family’.

Number 2: Joni Mitchell

Like several others on this list, Mitchell began to create waves in the 1960s. She was the archetypal California girl (despite coming from Canada) and seemed destined, for a short while, to be best known as the girlfriend or benefactress of a series of hippy males. This view short-changed her as she grew incrementally with each album release, culminating in 1971’s ‘Blue’, generally considered to be one of the greatest albums of its time. Not content to merely recreate this supremely personal album she went on to push the envelope, recording with a rock band on ‘For the Roses’ and then delving into jazz on ‘Court And Spark’, a development which grew to full fruition on two masterful releases, ‘The Hissing Of Summer Lawns’ and ‘Hejira’. Her increasingly opaque and complicated songs on subsequent releases such as ‘Don Jaun’s Reckless Daughter’ and her collaboration with jazz bassist Charlie Mingus still achieved critical acclaim but there were diminishing return as she moved back into a more mainstream sound on later albums. Nevertheless, Mitchell, currently recovering from an aneurysm, is cited as a prime influence by many.

Number 1: Rhiannon Giddens/Allison Russell/Songs Of Our Native Daughters

Of late there’s been a whole lot of soul-searching within the world of americana (and country music in general). With barbarians at the gate – all those big hatted, beer-swilling and truck-driving arseholes – the rise of artists of colour, female artists and those who have been brave enough to come out regarding their sexuality have, surprisingly managed to gain some traction in the past couple of years. Aside from acts such as Sturgill Simpson and Margo Price who have simply refused to kowtow to the establishment, there’s also been an examination into how country music became just so white. Giddens and Russell  (along with Don Clemens and others) have shone a light on the Black American roots of the music in their various projects but none more so than on the Smithsonian Institute release of ‘Songs Of Our Native Daughters’. Recorded by Giddens and Russell along with Amythst Kiah and Leyla McCalla the album is a powerful and wondrous reclamation of Black history, in particular, the savagery inflicted on female slaves. It’s an important album which deserves to be heard and is the culmination of all four participants’ previous work. Buy this album, work your way back, and then hope for more to come.